Test Report: Samsung UN55EH6000 LCD HDTV

Instead of starting this review by listing the features that Samsung put into its UN55EH6000 LCD TV, I’m going to start with what it doesn’t have. There’s no 3D. There are no Smart TV features. It’s not wafer-thin. It doesn’t even have an edge-lit LED back- light (though its “direct-lit” backlight does use LEDs). In other words, it lacks all the latest features found in most modern LCDs.

Awesome. This seems like an LCD made for me, if there ever could be such a thing. I have no use for 3D. Internet streaming is great but redundant in a TV. Ultra-thin frames cause all sorts of picture-quality issues. Edge lighting is the devil. That’s right, I view this TV’s “lack” of features as a strong benefit.

Setup

Given that there’s no 3D or Internet, setup is a breeze. Well, almost a breeze. There are only two HDMI inputs, which seems paltry. I get trying to make a display cheaper, but does Samsung really think the “budget-conscious” buyer of a $1,000-and-change flat-panel is also going to have an A/V receiver to do HDMI switching? There’s only one other input, and you can decide if you want to use it for a component- or composite-video connection.

The menus are Samsung-standard, and have all the basic picture controls plus RGB gain and bias for white balance adjustment, a nice touch in a lower-end model. Samsung’s little remote has little buttons and is backlit.

One of the only features found on this TV is called Clear Motion Rate 240. This is Samsung’s way of either obfuscating the actual refresh rate or offering consumers a more accurate description of the motion performance. I’ll let you decide, only biasing your conclusion by mentioning this is one of the first companies to actively push “LED TV” as a real thing. (There’s no such thing as an LED TV. They are actually LCD TVs with LED backlights.)